Head Coffee Roaster - Lifestyle Brand

Apply here or get in touch at:

[email protected]

Head Coffee Roaster

New York City | $90,000–$130,000 + Performance Bonus + Equity

Build something people will talk about.

Some careers are built by joining great companies.

Others are built by helping create one.

The founder is extremely focused on creating a culture from the foundation and is hiring for this key pre-launch role to be fully involved in decision-making and the foundation of the company's culture.

Coffee will sit at the very heart of that experience.

We're searching for a Head Coffee Roaster who wants to build something truly special—not simply manage an existing coffee program.

This is a founding leadership position with the opportunity to define the company's entire coffee identity from day one. From selecting producers and building sourcing relationships to creating signature roast profiles, developing retail collections, subscription offerings, café programs, educational experiences, and future collaborations, you'll have the opportunity to build a coffee program without inheriting someone else's systems or philosophy.

You'll lead every stage of the journey.

Working directly with green coffee producers and importers, you'll source exceptional coffees from around the world, continuously exploring new origins, processing methods, harvests, and flavor profiles. You'll oversee roasting operations, establish quality standards, refine roast curves, and ensure every coffee released under the brand reflects the same uncompromising standards that define the company as a whole.

Beyond roasting, you'll play a central role in product innovation. Together with the leadership team, you'll help develop seasonal collections, exclusive releases, gifting programs, and subscription experiences that celebrate the diversity of specialty coffee. You'll collaborate closely with other culinary leaders—including the Head Chocolatier—to create thoughtful coffee and chocolate pairings, tasting flights, educational programming, and limited-edition collaborations that elevate both categories.

As the company continues to grow, you'll also oversee the development of a premium tea program. Initially this will involve sourcing and curating exceptional teas from respected producers while maintaining the same philosophy of quality, craftsmanship, and transparency. As the brand expands, you'll help shape what that category ultimately becomes.

One of the things that makes this opportunity unique is the founders' belief that today's great brands are built around people, not logos. They want customers to know the individuals behind the products they purchase. If you enjoy teaching, storytelling, and sharing your passion, you'll have opportunities to host tastings, participate in launch events, create educational content, appear in media, and bring customers behind the scenes into the roasting process. Whether explaining processing methods from Ethiopia, discussing fermentation techniques from Colombia, or walking guests through a fresh cupping, you'll become one of the authentic voices of the company.

Because this business is still in its earliest stages, your influence will extend well beyond coffee itself. You'll work directly alongside ownership on strategic planning, operational decisions, equipment selection, hiring, future expansion, partnerships, and long-term product development. This is not a position where ideas disappear into multiple layers of approval. Your expertise will directly shape the future of the company.

We're looking for someone with at least five years of specialty coffee roasting experience and a genuine passion for sourcing, roasting science, flavor development, and quality control. SCA certification is certainly appreciated but isn't what defines great candidates. We're far more interested in someone who possesses extraordinary curiosity, exceptional palate development, and an entrepreneurial mindset. Experience working with premium hospitality brands, artisan producers, luxury consumer products, or direct-to-consumer businesses would be highly valued, as would existing relationships within the specialty coffee community.

Most importantly, we're looking for someone who wants to build.

Someone who sees opportunity where others see uncertainty.

Someone excited by the idea of creating systems instead of inheriting them, setting standards instead of following them, and helping build a company whose products become benchmarks within the industry.

Building a modern brand requires earning and keeping consumer attention. Our strategy is centered on an intentional brand flywheel built across five key pillars: distinctive physical stores, a premium e-commerce experience, authentic social media engagement through tastemakers, broad CPG distribution, and B2B sales opportunities through gifting and events.

At the heart of the brand is a clear operating philosophy. We aim to delight customers, colleagues, and partners through integrity, kindness, humility, and pragmatism. We hold a high bar for excellence, craftsmanship, and thoughtful execution while staying collaborative, accountable, and action-oriented. We operate as one team, take ownership of outcomes, embrace experimentation, and use reflection and feedback as tools for continuous improvement.

We are offering a competitive salary between $90,000 and $130,000, depending on experience, together with performance bonuses, equity for the right individual, comprehensive health benefits, paid time off, and something that's becoming increasingly rare: a true seat at the table. Your ideas won't disappear into layers of management—they'll directly influence the future of the business.

If you've been waiting for the opportunity to build a brand instead of simply working for one, we'd love to introduce you to what's next.

Apply here or get in touch at:

[email protected]